Peruvian Guadalupe Reliquary

The city of Cusco, Peru, is home to master artisan Hilda Cachi, who creates silver designs that preserve both ancient indigenous and colonial techniques, executed along with her creative workshop represented equitably by men and women. Cachi’s father Gregorio, a renowned master silver-worker, was her first teacher in this precise and elegant style of silver design. These beautiful saintly reliquaries are hand painted by students at a school in Cusco in order for them to learn the beautiful craft of artisanal art. The paintings are done on a mother-of-pearl shell or canvas in great detail. Consequently, the silver work that protects the painting is designed with much creativity and care. Cachi and her team use pure silver and natural stones from regional suppliers. Reliquaries themselves were used during viceroyalty times in Peru around the 17th century by men and women devoted to the saints, thus showing their fidelity and gratitude to each one. Cachi brings an entrepreneurial vision to her work, introducing new techniques that result in higher-quality work and greater productivity while still maintaining traditional designs. “My goal is to show in each piece the richness, beauty and identity of my people,” Cachi explains. Her innovations of South American jewelry design traditions has taken Cachi’s work to the Smithsonian Institution’s collection.